54 l t - E DGAR SNOW'S 'Q..Ò. "The Pattern þ- of Soviet Power" . .. = (Random House) is a good book that does not live up to the promise of its title. I'm not at all sure that any book could, unless it were writ- ten by Marshal Stalin, and I think that even if he went to the trouble of writing such a book it might be rather premature. There are certain very sim- ple things that may now be said about the pattern of Soviet power and the rôle it plans to play in world affairs- that Russia is most likely going to be the dominating influence in Europe for the next hundred years, for example-but those plans and intentions simply can- not be blueprinted, as much as the rest of the world might like them to be. 1Vlr. Snow, wisely enough, has not attempted to draw up such a blueprint. His book is largely an examInation of the Soviet structure as it looks after several years of war, and, while his long acquaintance with the Soviet gives his volume more than an ordinary amount of interest and val ue, there is not much in it that has not already been reported by the daily press, or in such recent books as Richard Lauterbach's "These Are the Russians." There is, as a matter of fact, a certain sameness about nearly all the books about Russia written by the foreign cor- respondents who have been there-an opening chapter on the appearance of Moscow and life in that city; a discus- sion of the latest Marxist mutations and the changes in the party line; a visit to the Ukraine; an interpretation of Rus- sian policy in re ference to Japan; a series of thumbnail sketches of the members of the Russian hierarchy; and a portrait, generally in soft focus, of the Marshal himself. All these things are in Mr. Snow's book, along with a chapter on the Russian occupation of Rumania and a vivid description of the criminal be- havior of the Germans in Poland, and anyone who isn't yet acquainted with such matters could hardly find a better book to begin with than this one. Mr. Snow's book is colored through- out by his favorable attitude toward Russia,.just as WilHam L. White's "Re- port on the Russians" was colored by a rather different attitude, but I don't see how this, in either case, could have been avoided. I get the impression that Mr. Snow is the more responsíble and ob jec- tive journalist of the two, but ob jectiv- ity, at best, is merely a matter of degree. ,.. ... BOOKS The Wind from the Steppes A man may swear off editorializing for keeps, and stick to what are called facts, yet even then, in whatever it is that makes one man dwell on the "facts" of the low standard of living in Russia while another celebrates the "facts" of the glories of Soviet construction, the subjective process is always at work. Then, too, Russia is more than a coun- try. It has influenced the minds and imaginations of millions of people-a threat to some, a promise to others-and men approach it, in general, either as heretics or believers. Neither group, on the record, is noticeably given to ob- jectivity. O BJECTIVITY, however, is just what the situation calls for, and one of the great virtues of Mr. Snow's book is that he has tried to be as ob- jective as possible. He gives us many , t " '--:ð , 1 1 J Øti, ':: G :: , : ,:x ; :: ilJ J " !' zt l' ,;:., .., .... - .-.-- - . ---- '. ::: 1: ,t ; T"; ' T :t' 'z !: . '. '(1 ".. .":":= . . :)::<: ::. }o ; .... - ... .. : ... :i .-: .:: facts about Russia and, while we can -always use books of interpretation and criticism, we can also use all the factual information about the U.S.S.R. that we can get hold of. It is unfortunate that so many difficulties seem to be attached to the gathering of facts in the Soviet, and that all the books written about it either jn approval or opposition have such a limited range, but this only adds to our need for a book of the kind and quality of de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," or, if that is setting our sights too high, for one like Bryce's "American Commonwealth." Beatrice and Sidney Webb, in the monumental two-volume study of Russia they wrote some years ago, "Soviet Communism: ANew Civilization? ," made a try at writing such a book, but it didn't quite come off. It is still full of extreme- ly llseful information and represents A /1\ ". .1. \ :. " Ç .d'ø J : --- \ '-.' .. ..... . u . .. ..........,)st.,::;;,: : 1 '! . .' *::.1îj . ..; (: -- . . ........;.... . vv-' .... : ,: . : I l.,<: :':, '., f Ä . f' ': .. ,. . A . ...... ,' ; .. , Wlif . .: ;:;::::::.: . '.d .... . ^ , . .' rll .. < l'L\1 l\r ( Î ',: . ."':, ':..."':.. 1 ".Jî;. : . Ni .. t . . < , .; . .: ........ . :: .'",- .. <....... . . "'.: ir.i-....::: .... , , "' ",i ft li }", , .... ,.......: .::.'::: :-- :: .,. ;jJ><; : :" ' J:I{ ;:iw.? .:1." <! :(: Ñ ím ' r ''(1\\ J: :( \4\ r: '.. "It doesn't exactly explai.n de Gaulle, but it helps.))